Peruvian Nights and Jamaican Days

Dude, ODB was a year younger than me? I had no idea! I would have thought him to be 38-39 or something. I also didn't know that Cheney was one year younger than my dad. I don't wish any ill on Cheney, I just wish he wasn't my vice-President. If Bush would have dumped him, he would have had my vote. Actually, I had a list of things that could have occurred to get my vote to go Bush, and he failed all of these:
- DJIA above 12,000
- Bush dumps Cheney
- Found UBL, sent to Guantánamo Bay
- Oil under $35/barrel
- Memorized the words to "Rapper's Delight" and chanted these instead of answering those lame repetitive questions during those debates

As a geographer who did not vote for the incumbent, I have a distant interest in watching the next four years roll by. It will go pretty fast, I'm sure.

--gh
 

If Cheney had died of a heart attack 4 years ago, my little cousin might not be getting his ass shot at in Iraq. I mean, he still might be, but it would be slightly less probable. Dick Cheney came to speak at UW a few years back. He was about as likeable as dog diarrhea on the bottom of a tennis shoe. Actually, he was slightly less impressive than that.

I hope gas goes up to $5/gallon by the end of the year.

I own my small piece of the stock market, and I don't really care whether it goes up or down. I still think it's just a big crazy joke.

Rapper's Delight would have been much better than giving the same answer for 2 hours, no matter what the question was. I would have been more impressed if he had sang his ABC's, to be frank.

-m
 

$5 gallon? Sounds like someone is invested in oil companies.

High gas prices (and heating oil/natural gas) are just another tax on the poor.

To wish for higher gas prices is like saying we need higher health/prescription costs -- hoping this will force *someone* to do something about it.

Time to mine/drill Alaska for all it's worth, and build another pipeline. I really detest that state. We could sell it back to the Russians. That way, we can eventually bring P.R. in without changing the flag. Have you seen 51 stars? It looks dorky.

Bush failed on his drilling ANWR initiative. Effective exploitation of this resource would require another pipeline, or global warming to have year-round shipping.

--gh
 

Driving a car is a choice, for most people (arguably, for almost all people - excluding disabled folk, etc). Urban poor folk could take mass transit (and usually do), small town poor folk could walk or ride bikes. Driving is a choice. Driving a vehicle that gets 6 mpg is also a choice. If gas prices passed $5/gal., things would change. I'm confident it would cause a shift in people's car buying habits. I don't care if it puts the squeeze on truckers, because semis suck anyways. Trains are way better. The trucking industry must be one of the most heavily subsidized industries of all (esp. when you take into account the fact that most non-weather related road damage is done by semis). Yeah, check that..I wish gas would get up to $10/gallon. There is no way it can be cheaper to go from compressed liquified dead dinosaur asses hidden under the ground to gasoline in your tank for less than what bottled water costs. I'm tired of subsidizing automobile drivers. I wish that people could pick what their taxes went to pay for.

U.S.'ers need to learn that television and automobiles are luxury items, not necessities. You won't die without cable. Trust me. (I don't like to call U.S. citizens 'Americans' ever since a Mexican foreign exchange student that went to my high school in 10th grade pointed out that everyone from Nunavut to Tierra del Fuego is an 'American,'(North, South, or Central (meso-)) and that it offended some of the other 'Americans' that we were so egocentric as to usurp that label for ourselves, only.) We don't really have a correct shorthand label for people from the U.S. I think we need one. Suggestions?

I don't see anything wrong with making someone pay more if they create more air pollution. That seems fair. And most 'economy' cars - the ones poor people ought to be buying so that they're putting aside money for their children's education and things, instead of making payments on a $35,000 SUV and perpetuating their almost genetic poverty - are fuel efficient, so the tax on people with low-end cars should be less than with expensive trucks and things. Anyway, we need to re-evaluate what 'poor' is in this country. Poor isn't not having enough money to have a 5 bedroom, 3 bath, 3 car garage house. Poor is not having enough money to buy minimal shelter and food. There really aren't any poor people in this country, by that standard, except for homeless folk. I feel comfortable, living on me & Jenn's stipends - which most U.S.'ers would be appalled at.

Since we live on the edge of town, practically every student must live closer to campus than us, and yet, people constantly whine about parking spaces. Partly, there is a real parking shortage, but mainly, there wouldn't be a problem if people that lived less than 6 blocks could just walk their chunky asses to school. (Interestingly, for some reason, UW students are much less prone to obesity than were NWMSU students). I've passed people on my bike who are scraping their windshields, 5 blocks from campus, and I get there before them, plus they still end up parking 2 blocks away because of said parking issues, whereas I park directly in front of the building I need to get to. Then there are those people that drive a mile to work, drive home, and then walk for 30 minutes on a TREADMILL. Those people deserve a huge foot in the ass.

Taxes on groceries (Missouri fans) are just another tax on the poor. Of course, most poor folk eat at McDonalds anyway, it seems. I mean, my poor relatives do. Taxes on cigarettes are just another tax on the poor.

Even after ODB was famous with Wu-Tang, he was still collecting welfare. I don't understand how that worked. But it's true, because I saw it on my TV, back in the day.

-m